Why taking the DNA of a dead loved one could help save your life

It sounds macabre, but there’s a new service for undertakers...

UNDERTAKERS are accustomed to clipping a lock of hair for the family of the deceased to have as a keepsake — but could it soon become routine for them to take a DNA sample, too?

As Canadian scientists have discovered a way of preserving DNA in people’s homes without the need for refrigeration — meaning a sample can be kept until it is needed — funeral firms here may start to offer DNA sample services.

Already over i n Britain, four funeral firms are launching a DNA sample service which aims to prevent crucial information for the health of families and future generations being lost for ever once a loved one dies.

The idea is that the genetic sample, taken as a simple swab test, will provide a lasting record of the deceased’s genetic health, which family members can use to help with their own health in future.

Detailed genetic history can help with faster diagnosis and more effective treatment of everything from simple skin disorders to cancer, heart disease, dementia and diabetes.

Analysis of the DNA sample could also help with identifying patterns of health risks within families and enable a potential problem to be treated before it is too late.

It may also help to estimate the risk of passing conditions on to children.

The four firms in England and Scotland have signed up to the DNA Memorial service, which was set up by the Canadian scientists who discovered the way of preserving DNA. The manufacturer says it could remain intact for 500 years or more. The DNA Memorial service is already available in Canada and the US.

FUNERAL home owner Si mon Beckett- Al le n si g ned up after hi s 49-year- old sister Sarah died unexpectedly earlier this year, shortly before he heard about the service.

Simon says he immediately saw the value of keeping her DNA.

‘Not only will this help us to protect our family’s health now and in the future,’ he says. ‘I know Sarah would be pleased that this is being done.’

Taking a DNA sample from a swab test is not in itself new — what’s made the DNA memorial service possible is the ability to store the extracted DNA at room temperature — so it can be kept safely and easily at home, rather than in a lab.

DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the body’s genetic ‘blueprint’ — in very simple terms, it tells all of our cells what to do and when.

DNA molecules are very vulnerable to damage from water and air. (In our bodies, there are constant repair processes to keep DNA molecules stable).

Normally, when used by genetic researchers, for example, extracted DNA has to be stored at ultra-low temperatures of around -85C.

DNA Memorial Service has developed a way of bonding the DNA with other chemicals so that it is more stable and doesn’t need to be frozen.

After the sample is taken by the funeral home (the swab is taken from the inside of the cheek), it is sent to a specialist laboratory where the DNA is extracted from the cells in the swab sample, purified, treated so that it is stable and then sealed in a sterile vial filled with an inert gas to protect it from oxygen. It will be returned to the family for safekeeping until needed. It costs approximately €320 per sample.

The service doesn’t offer analysis of the DNA sample — the idea i s that this will be done by doctors, if it’s deemed necessary, at a later stage.

It’s not clear how this will work in practice, but experts suggest that using DNA as part of diagnosis and treatment will become increasingly commonplace — part of what’s known as ‘personalised medicine’.

Simon Rothewell is the European director of CG Labs, the Canadian DNA c o mpany behi n d the initiative, and director of Flexmort, the European distributor. He says: ‘Having access to family DNA will enable doctors to zoom in on specific medical i ssues, rather than having to do A-Z medical investigations, and will also help identify appropriate treatment.

GENETIC c l ues can i dentify health weaknesses, too, and prevent conditions from developing.’

Professor of clinical oncology Nicholas James is in no doubt about the value of banking a family’s genetic history.

‘The increasing availability of DNA-based technologies is leading to a revolution in medical care,’ he says. ‘This is generally referred to as personalised medicine, and means using DNA-based data to try and predict responses to therapy to allow more precise tailoring of therapy options.

‘In t he f uture, DNA data will be key to understand- ing disease in general and individual variations both in disease outcomes and response to treatment.

He adds: ‘Having access to one’s DNA heritage would greatly aid the understanding of many diseases such as prostate cancer.’

In principle, Dr Giles Yeo, director of genomics at the Medical Research Council’s metabolic diseases unit at the University of Cambridge, agrees.

‘Firstly, because all diseases and conditions have a genetic component,’ he says.

‘And secondly, genetic studies are at their most powerful with large amounts of family data — which this sort of DNA banking would provide if families consented for it to be used for research.’

However he adds that the value of preserved DNA will differ from family to family.

For some, where there is a clear single gene defect that explains a disease, the utility is self-evident.

‘Where, however, in the majority of cases, the genetic provenance of a disease turns out to be complex, the value to an individual family is less obvious.’